The present invention provides methods and apparatus for determining a dynamical property of the systemic or pulmonary
arterial tree using long time scale information, i.e., information obtained from measurements over time scales greater than a single
cardiac cycle. In one aspect, the invention provides a method and apparatus for monitoring
cardiac output (CO) from a single
blood pressure signal measurement obtained at any site in the systemic or pulmonary
arterial tree or from any related measurement including, for example, fingertip photoplethysmography.According to the method the
time constant of the
arterial tree, defined to be the product of the total
peripheral resistance (TPR) and the nearly constant arterial compliance, is determined by analyzing the long time scale variations (greater than a single
cardiac cycle) in any of these
blood pressure signals. Then, according to
Ohm's law, a value proportional to CO may be determined from the ratio of the
blood pressure signal to the estimated
time constant. The proportional CO values derived from this method may be calibrated to absolute CO, if desired, with a single, absolute measure of CO (e.g., thermodilution). The present invention may be applied to invasive radial
arterial blood pressure or pulmonary
arterial blood pressure signals which are routinely measured in
intensive care units and surgical suites or to noninvasively measured
peripheral arterial blood pressure signals or related noninvasively measured signals in order to facilitate the clinical monitoring of CO as well as TPR.